Gelli Plate Experiment!

Wow! Two posts in a week! What's up with that?

Ah...but seriously, it all good. Right? Right!!

I have recently become interested in gelli plates. I know you can buy them already made and I am sure they are cool. But I haven't had the chance to go anywhere to buy one. So I decided I would make my own. I used the recipe given out by The Frugal Crafter - the updated one where you use only glycerine and no alcohol.

I bought a glass cake pan to put it in, not really thinking that the pan was too big for my micorwave. Well, it wouldn't be, except for the handles on it - but that was what they had at the store and because I am an impatient soul...well. But I can use that pan as a pallet if I can find something else that will fit in the micro.

UPDATE: I went to the dollar and thrift store and found a pyrex bowl to melt my gelatine in and a cookies sheet and cake pan (metal) to pour the mixture in. As a side note, CHEAP bakeware like what I got at the dollar store is not ideal because it is flimsy and will twist and bend - which leads to spilling!  Oh, and don't put this gelatine down your drain! it will clog it up and you will have a huge mess on your hands!

ANYWAY...

Things to note: stir your gelatine etc. in something else, not the pan or whatever you decide to use for the mold. I didn't do this and ended up with what I think was undisolved gelatine in the bottom which made a pattern on my plate. Which is not really what you want, because then that pattern ends up on every print.  Oh and skim the bubbles off the top when you pour it into the pan. I didn't do this either.

My plate fell apart due to perhaps rough handling on my part or perhpas due to insufficient mixing. Not sure. I will see if remelting it helps that aspect of it. Nevertheless, before that happened, I did get some prints. I will likely put more layers on them.

I have NO IDEA what I will do do with these at this point. Perhaps as collage material in paintings. Lots of people use them as backgrounds for journal pages, but I don't really journal much and so doubt I would do this.

Still, it's fun stuff and you can pull a lot of prints in a very short amount of time. I am looking forward to more experiments.

I know Carla Sonheim does some stuff with gelli plates and I must go back and look again and what she does...Carla is such a nice lady and I encourage you to take a class from her if you have the chance.

So, here are a few pictures I took of my prints so far - nothing earth shattering of course, but it was fun!

Here is my actual gelli plate:

And here are some of the prints I did:

So...FUN STUFF!

Oh and for those of you who want the recipe I used:

7 T of gelatine
1.5 cups boiling water
1.5 cups glycerine
capfull of alcohol (which I added when I melted my misshapen and torn first gelli plate)

I should mention that the recipe I had said 6 T, not 7 of gelatine, but I misread it (it said 6T - which is supposedly equal to 7 PACKETS. ) Ultimately it didn't seem to matter much. I think there is wiggle room in this recipe.

I am also trying very hard to keep my work space relatively clean and uncluttered - especially after I work. During work, I don't have time to think about that stuff! but if I can remember to clean up after myself, well...maybe I can keep the studio relatively neat and organized! Cross your fingers people! I am working against my natural tendencies!!!